My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion

Chapter 1220: Chapter 661: Speak of Slaying the Jiao Dragon, Slay the Jiao Dragon (Double Chapter)_2

"Mr. Chen...? To encounter you here truly is... fate." Zhao Deshan broke the silence, his voice carrying a hint of tentative curiosity.

"Daoist Zhao, it’s been a long time. I hope you’ve been well."

Back then, near Yin Sword Mountain, Chen Yi once saved Zhao Deshan, accompanied by Lu Ying at the time. Later, when heading to Yin Sword Mountain, to repay the life-saving grace, Zhao Deshan helped confuse the Sect Leader of Yin Sword Mountain.

With comings and goings, they developed some camaraderie.

The atmosphere initially stagnated, and Zhao Deshan once again scrutinized Chen Yi, his heart filled with even more suspicion and surprise.

After not seeing him for a long while, this person’s aura was even more reserved and withdrawn, seemingly more so than the last meeting, like a deep, ancient well with a calm surface but unpredictable undercurrents beneath.

If, in the past, he was like a Flying Dragon in the Sky, partly hidden in clouds and mist, now he was a Hidden Dragon in the Abyss, waiting for the right moment to act. This transformation in demeanor made Zhao Deshan uneasy.

"Blessings of Infinite Heavenly Venerable, I didn’t expect to reunite here. Mr. Chen, could it be that you’ve also heard... about the Jiao Dragon incident?"

Chen Yi nodded slightly, his gaze cast toward the raging Red River, "It seems Daoist Zhao has come for the Jiao Dragon as well."

"Indeed." Zhao Deshan regained his composure, his face becoming solemn, "This beast is ferocious, causing turmoil, endangering lives. I have been ordered to come and exorcise the demon."

"Oh? Do you know its origins?" Chen Yi inquired.

Zhao Deshan stroked his long beard, speaking in a deep voice, "According to my sect’s records and various investigations, the origins of this Jiao... are likely extraordinary.

This place, at the junction of Southern Wei and Sichuan, has always been a bizarre and mysterious land. We suspect that this great serpent might very well be... the very celestial serpent that swallowed Ancestor Heavenly Master Zhang Daoling in the past!"

Upon hearing this, Yin Weiyin’s cold eyes also flashed a trace of astonishment.

Chen Yi raised his eyebrows slightly, "Swallowed Heavenly Master Zhang? That was a millennium ago. If it truly is that creature, why has it only now come to transform into a dragon?"

"That is precisely the oddity." Zhao Deshan shook his head, sighing, "The timeline doesn’t match. We cannot fathom it, yet its traces, the lingering demonic aura during its rampages, bear some similarities to the ancient records of that wicked creature.

Some predecessors surmised that perhaps the Ancestor Heavenly Master was not overpowered but instead sought to emulate Buddha by offering his own flesh to calm it with great compassion, transforming its malevolence to virtue. Yet... it clearly did not succeed fully.

The great serpent, having possibly gained from the Ancestor Heavenly Master’s cultivation, laid dormant for a thousand years, and now, unable to contain itself, wishes to seize the opportunity to fully transform into a dragon!"

Chen Yi picked up a coarse pottery bowl, sipped some tea. The Shenxiao Sect flourished over a thousand years ago, but now it’s so dilapidated that it’s difficult to imagine the might of Dragon and Tiger Mountain back then. Zhao Deshan’s words were akin to observing the sky through a well.

"Perhaps, the current havoc, requiring the sacrifice of young girls and boys, is not caused by the same millennium-old serpent that swallowed Heavenly Master Zhang..."

He paused, speaking the latter half while looking at Zhao Deshan,

"but rather its... offspring."

Zhao Deshan’s pupils contracted sharply upon hearing this, and his fingers stopped fiddling with his fake beard.

Rumble!

Without warning, an exceptionally deafening explosion seemed to resonate from deep within the earth, causing the entire small town to tremble slightly. Subsequently, the originally gray and dull daylight completely darkened.

Day turned to night in an instant.

Thick, ink-like black clouds gathered from nowhere, churning and pressing low towards the earth, spreading an oppressive chill and the stench of blood, as if the gates to the underworld had been opened.

"Such heavy demonic aura, this is not an ordinary roaming Jiao!" Zhao Deshan’s face changed dramatically, and the fingers on his fake beard froze, "If this truly is as Mr. Chen said, an offspring... capable of causing such a celestial change, then it must be... the eldest son without a doubt!"

Heavy raindrops fell without warning, hitting the tiles and stone paths with a loud patter, quickly forming a dense curtain of rain.

The crowd erupted into massive panic, cries and shrieks instantly drowning out everything.

"It’s gone dark!"

"That thing... that thing is coming!"

The cold, bone-chilling rain poured down, yet the witch presiding over the ceremony on the altar shouted hoarsely, "The auspicious time has arrived! Welcome the Divine Dragon! Protect our land’s peace!"

The boys and girls held down on either side of the altar had long cried until they were hoarse, their faces pallid.

A disheveled woman suddenly rushed out of the crowd, wailing as she threw herself towards the altar, "My son! Give me back my son!" Yet she was stopped dead by several strong men, their fists and kicks and curses drowned in the storm.

The woman struggled in despair, her fingernails scraping bloody marks into the muddy ground, her eyes hollow as if her soul had been extracted while staring at the two children being dragged towards the bridgehead.

Zhao Deshan suddenly rose; the disciples of the Shenxiao Sect followed closely, each with a grave expression, hand on the hilt of their swords.

The wind and rain were so heavy that their figures blurred in the rain curtain. Zhao Deshan quickly glanced at the still-seated Chen Yi, his gaze complex, words left unsaid.

This unfathomable Mr. Chen, is he just watching with folded arms, or...?

Chen Yi showed no expression, as if the cries, wind, rain, and the impending terror around him had nothing to do with him. Yin Weiyin sat upright beside him, maintaining her celestial demeanor, except for the hands resting on her knees, whose knuckles turned slightly white from exertion.

Despite the heavy wind and rain, Chen Yi still clearly heard the suppressed whispers of the Shenxiao Sect disciples nearby, vaguely catching a few scattered words,

"Don’t panic, there was a notice posted early this morning..."

"A notice? Whose notice?"

"To slay the Jiao Dragon, someone said they would slay the Jiao Dragon."

At that moment,

Rumbling!

A dull, thunderous sound came from upstream of the river, overpowering the sound of wind and rain.

It wasn’t thunder, but a mountain flood. The muddy floodwaters, carrying broken wood and boulders, surged down like a beast breaking free from its cage, immediately filling the wide riverway. The water level rose visibly.

The waves crashed against the riverbanks, emitting deafening roars. From deep within the vast floodwaters, a faint hint of ominous dark red could be glimpsed, as if some giant creature was stirring turbulently.

The muddied waves rose high, and a huge, indistinct dragon head outline appeared intermittently through the turbid waves, with bristling scales and a formidable presence!

The entire town trembled under the mighty power of nature and the ferocious threat of the monster. The desperate cries and screams of the people were completely drowned by the overwhelming roar of the flood. Despair washed over everyone’s heads like the cold river water.

Zhao Deshan, with his hair and beard standing on end, shouted sharply: "Form the array! Prepare to slay the Jiao Dragon!"

Shenxiao Sect disciples quickly formed an array. The sword light shone faintly in the rain curtain, like a few lamps in a storm that could be extinguished at any moment.

Only Chen Yi remained seated.

His deep gaze penetrated the layers of rain curtain, calmly settling on the blood-red "Water Dragon" rushing in, as if watching a play unrelated to him.

The "Water Dragon," with a force enough to topple the heavens and earth, charged straight at the stone bridge!

Just as the massive dragon head shadow was about to envelop the stone bridge.

Slit!

An indescribable sharp sound tore through the wind and rain, like a fabric instantly cut by a blade.

The unstoppable floodwaters, carrying a bloody and destructive aura, suddenly...collapsed in front of the stone bridge, less than ten yards away!

The towering water wall exploded with a roar, transforming into a sky full of water mist. Countless cold water droplets shot and spread in the pouring rain, forming a vast white curtain.

Amidst the sky full of water mist, a crimson figure shot up like an arrow from the turbulent muddy waves,

"Hahaha! To slay the Jiao Dragon, then the Jiao Dragon shall be slain!"

Heartily, joyously, with the freedom of wandering the world,

The laughter pierced through gold and stone, overpowering the roaring flood and scattering the stormy wind and rain.

Immediately following, under the terrified gaze of all, the massive, blurry dragon head outline from the depths of the muddy floodwaters was completely revealed,

Yet it was a...

Severed, ferocious head!

The cut was smooth as a mirror, dark red dragon blood gushing out like a waterfall, continuously dyeing the surging undercurrent below,

Amidst the pervasive water mist, the crimson figure lightly spun and landed confidently on the wet stone bridge rail.

Raindrops rolled down her hair. She raised her hand to wipe the rain off her face, revealing a vibrant and striking face, her eyes like electricity, sweeping over the still-frightened crowd below and the dumbfounded Shenxiao Sect members.

It was Min Ning!

And the huge dragon corpse that lost its head crashed into the surging flood like a mountain stripped of all strength, stirring up massive waves.

The muddy yellow flood, mixed with dark red dragon blood and broken scales, rolled and rushed down the river channel like a filthy, bloody mudslide, carrying the enormous headless Jiao body. Its momentum was terrifying, but it had lost all life and menace.

The stone bridge shook, and the crowd fell silent.

Only the sound of wind and rain remained, along with that red-clad hero standing brilliantly on the railing of the bridge, thoroughly soaked but full of vigor.